OTE, Deutsche Telekom’s Greek subsidiary says it has completed the 295.6 million euro sale of its majority stake in Telekom Romania to Orange.
Strategic decision
CEO, Michael Tsamaz called the sale of the 54 % stake: “a strategic decision enabling OTE’s rapid infrastructure rollout in Greece and enhancing its long term growth outlook and shareholder value,” ekathimerini.com reported.
He added: “In Romania, it will support the growth of Telekom Romania Fixed and drive market competitiveness.”
The development gives Orange control of Romania’s second largest provider of fixed telecom services. It will compete with RCS&RDS and Vodafone to provide converged services.
OTE
Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) announced the completion of the sale on Thursday.
It said it plans to distribute some 174 million euros to shareholders in the form of extraordinary dividend and incremental share buybacks.
Corporate approvals
The dividend distribution,subject to appropriate corporate approvals, is expected to take place this year.
The CEO added that OTE remained active in the Romanian market with Telekom Romania Mobile. It is “targeting positive cash flow generation through a revamped market approach.”
The deal came after the European Commission in July gave Orange conditional approval to buy the 54% stake in Telekom.
The Romanian state owns the remaining 45.99% of Telekom Romania Communications.
European Commission
The European Commission found no competition concerns in such areas as the provision of fixed-mobile convergent, the retail market for business connectivity services and the wholesale market for the supply and acquisition of TV channels.
It said that Orange would be able to offer services more efficiently.
Telekom Romania has fixed voice, broadband and pay-TV services to around 5 million customers.
